17x13: The Tapping At The Window

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00] This podcast contains adult language and content. The stories shared in this podcast are told from the perspective of the authors. Their accounts and opinions are personal and do not reflect the stance of the production team. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00] Almost four years ago, my husband and I moved in together into a rather nice and expensive apartment complex that is in a nice part of town. We are on the third floor, and our living room has a large balcony that looks out onto the courtyard where other apartments in the complex are located. Basically, you can see the other balconies and living rooms of the other tenants, as well as the open stairwells.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00] It's easy to get to any apartment doorway as the complex is large and open with no security doors except the doors to the apartment. My husband works at a bar so he comes home late, while I usually make it home at around 5pm. Our first year in the apartment went by without a hitch, but the trouble started the following August.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00] I would be home after work, chilling and watching TV, when I would hear someone come up the stairs. It almost always happened at around 9.30pm. Things would be quiet, and then all of a sudden, I'd hear loud, sharp knocks on my door. I didn't move the first time it happened because I was so startled, but eventually, I got up and I looked through the peephole.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00] Three people were standing there, all with black hoodies on, staring at the peephole like they could see me. I didn't answer the door, and after a while, they finally left. A few weeks later, at the same time as before, I heard the same loud footsteps, and then loud, hard bangs on the door that sent my cat flying to hide.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00] I sat there frozen, but thought to myself that maybe these were police officers. So, I looked through the peephole once again. This time, I found myself staring at one person. It was a male, wearing a dark hoodie, who was very gaunt and had huge black eyes. Again, I didn't answer the door, and grabbed a kitchen knife that I kept by my side until my husband came home.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00] This continued for weeks, and once, it happened when my husband was home. He proceeded to look out the peephole, saw the same man, and screamed for him to leave, which the guy did. We called maintenance, and the police, who both stated that they would do regular patrols but nothing else, and suggested that we get cameras.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00] Everything stopped during winter, which helped me feel more at ease, because when all of this was happening, I was having a very hard time sleeping, and had stopped going out at night. However, about six months after they stopped, the same large bangs started up again. I assume it was the same man, but when I would go to look out the peephole, nobody was there.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00] Then I started to notice extinguished cigarette butts by the side of my door. I was horrified. It was like someone was just standing and waiting, right outside. Again, I reported it, and security was stepped up in the area, but I still didn't feel safe. I was hoping that it would just stop, as I felt tortured in my own home.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00] However, two weeks ago, I realized things could be much worse. At night, in order for me to go to bed, I would have to cross our eating area, which was right in front of our giant glass sliding door that led out to our balcony. It was late at night, and the lights in our apartment were off. As I walked by the glass door, I glanced over.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00] Across the courtyard, I saw the same man. He was on the landing in the open stairwell across the way, and he was staring right at my balcony. He wasn't moving. The same man I had seen at my door was just standing there, facing my direction. I went numb, and my heart was racing, and I was chilled to the bone.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00] I know he couldn't have seen me because my lights were off, and this stairway had lights of its own, but I was still scared. I called my husband, who rushed over, but the man had already left. Then, more reports to the front office, more promised security patrols. This same creepy, dead-eyed man in the black hoodie now stands in the stairwell landing every Friday staring at my apartment.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00] I'm horrified, and have been having awful nightmares about someone breaking in and strangling me in my sleep. So, creepy black-eyed man, please, let's not ever meet.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00] I moved out of my parents' house and into an apartment in early May of this year. I'm 19 and female. After the first night in my new apartment, I woke up and saw that a note had been slid under my door. I figured it was from the landlord, as the card said, Cheers! Like it was a celebration thing. However, when I opened it, a $1 bill fell out,

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00] and I was met with a handwritten note that took up both the front and back of the piece of paper. The note was from the neighbor directly across from me. I have seen him, but I'm not entirely sure how old he is. To me, he just looks like he could be in his early to mid-forties. Now, I'll give you a rundown on what was on the note.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00] He first dates it at the top, plus writes out his full signature. In the first part, he just mentions that he hasn't had a chance to introduce himself and figured it would be a good idea to stick a note under my door. Then, he basically gives a whole rundown about how he went to a different state to meet a girl, but that the girl later ditched him and accused him of stealing. I didn't understand why he was telling me this,

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00] but then he said he had some of the girl's clothes, and he wanted to give them to me. Another thing he mentioned was that he has keys that he believes belong to my apartment. That was very unsettling to hear. By the way, I ended up contacting the landlord and letting her know about the keys situation. She told me that the lock had been changed before I moved in, and that whatever keys he had probably wouldn't work.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_00] At the end of the note, he had written all of his socials, plus his phone number. He had given me a blank sheet of paper in case I wanted to write back. Of course, I didn't. Now, a few weeks after this happened, I hadn't gotten any more notes, and I had been keeping to myself and not talking to any of my neighbors. I'm just not a social person. But I did start noticing that whenever I would walk out of my apartment,

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_00] he would as well. He would stare at me, then walk away in another direction. I found it odd after the fifth time that it happened. Subtle things like this would occur over the months. But let's fast forward to now. So, I'm a very careful person when it comes to safety, and I make sure that my door is locked every single night.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00] Recently, I noticed that every time I wake up and go out of my bedroom, I see that the front door is unlocked. The first time it happened, I thought maybe I had forgotten to lock it the night before. The next couple of days, I made sure to lock the door, and remember that I had done so. But it kept happening. I would wake up to find the lock to my front door turned the opposite way.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_00] Nothing was out of place or stolen. My landlord claims that she changed the locks before, so I'm just very confused. I feel like I'm going crazy at this point. I'm not in much contact with my parents anymore for personal reasons, so I really haven't informed them about all of this recent stuff that's been happening. I did tell them about the note, though, and my stepmother recognized his name. We live in a small town. Everybody knows everybody.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00] Apparently, this guy used to be a heavy addict. Today, I came home and there was a note hanging on his door. It was on a sheet of stationery with bunnies on it that read, Some Bunny Loves You, printed across the top. My neighbor had written, Hope you are doing well, neighbor. I just knew it was meant for me. Who else would it be for?

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_00] It's like he knew I would look at his door. I'm thinking of buying an alarm system. My plan is to catch him on camera. That way, I have evidence for the police. I don't know if I'm crazy or if this neighbor of mine is actually watching me. Am I overthinking it?

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[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_00] Just make sure to use our link so that they know we sent you. KeeperSecurity.com slash meet. There's a man in the woods. I don't know if he lives out there somewhere or if he's actively moving around, but I have seen a masked man wandering around the woods on multiple occasions. I've lived in and around the woods myself since I was very young.

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_00] So I've always loved taking walks, going on hikes, camping, and all that stuff. The night time never used to bother me. And I've even enjoyed midnight walks or spontaneous trail traveling whenever I couldn't sleep. That is, until I saw him for the first time. It was the summer of 2024 and I was out on what should have been nothing but a routine walk at night.

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_00] The day time was hot and horrible, and I had no desire to go out during the day. But the evening cooled everything down just enough for me to get the motivation to actually go out for a bit. The area I live in has a route that I used to take quite frequently that went around a sort of loop, which made it easier to actually get out since it only takes about 45 minutes to complete.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_00] From where I live, it takes about 15 minutes of walking on that loop before you come across a small clearing which leads to a decent set of hiking trails, ones I've been up and down on multiple occasions. I headed out of my house at around 9pm, headphones in, Red Bull holstered in my pocket alongside my pocket knife, which I always tried to carry around with me.

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_00] Nothing seemed unusual or off-putting in any way as I made my way down the road. I was really getting into the zone and enjoying my nighttime woodsy vibes while listening to some shitty indie band that I used to be into back then. At the 15 minute mark, I started to come up on that clearing, and for whatever reason my earbuds had randomly disconnected.

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_00] I had had them for quite a while at that point, so something like that wasn't very unusual. But as soon as I took them out to try and reconnect them, I heard something off in the distance. Instinctively, I tried to focus on what it was. I slowed down my walking pace once I realized the sound was a rustling of some kind. I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized it was the sound of something walking.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00] Whatever it was sounded heavy, so I assumed it must have been a black bear or something like that, since those are fairly common where I live. No big deal. A little nerve-wracking, sure, but it wasn't anything that I wasn't already used to. As the thudding of footsteps got closer, I began to grow a bit more unsure.

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_00] The rhythm sounded off, somehow, and at some point, I realized it sounded much more bipedal than what a black bear would have been able to do. I half expected to spot Bigfoot or something. It happened to be a full moon, so I figured I would wait just a little bit longer to get a good look at what or whoever came out of the clearing. I stood by the immediate tree line a little ways away.

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_00] That way, I felt safe, but would still be able to catch a look. What I saw made me wish it was really a Bigfoot. Or even a fucking werewolf. The silhouette of a man appeared, trudging out of the trails and into the moonlit clearing. Initially, I thought it could have been some other random person who happened to enjoy nightwalking as well. But that thought was immediately shattered when I caught a glimpse of his face.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00] At first, I thought that this guy might have just been impossibly pale, his light skin further amplified by the moonlight. But soon enough, I realized he was actually wearing a mask. The mask itself was nondescript. It was a human face with incredibly sharp features, and looked like a mask that you would randomly find in a Rite Aid or at a Walmart or something.

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_00] It looked to be hard plastic, and like it had been pure white, but now was dirty and grimy. He was wearing a flannel of some kind alongside some boots and jeans, and he walked with a slight hunch that went back and forth between straight postured and almost crouched down. My heart was in my throat as I watched him walk into the middle of the clearing. And it only got worse when he actually stopped moving.

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_00] Because he turned his head back and forth like he was looking around, then turned his head up towards the sky, and just seemed to stare. It was almost like he was stargazing. Meanwhile, I'm trying not to piss my pants while I watch some Jason Voorhees knockoff stand there and contemplate the meaning of life. After a few minutes, he began walking again, leaving the clearing completely and walking down the middle of the road.

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_00] I waited until he was completely out of sight before I immediately made my way back the way I came. I was too scared to run because I thought that he might hear me, so I just picked up my pace, walking the entire way back. I locked every door and window I had, cranked the AC, and barely slept the rest of the night until the sun finally came back up. That was just the first encounter that I've had with him, though.

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_00] The next time I saw him was during the fall of the same year. I had made it a point to avoid going out on any more night walks after that first time, and I even took a hiatus from going out into the woods whatsoever for a few months. I've always loved autumn, though, so one day I finally went back out for a walk, then a hike, and so on.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_00] Eventually, I chalked that encounter up to a one-time occurrence and ended up going back to the trails, even though I obviously tried not to stay out there too late or go in as deep as I would have before. One time, I wasn't actually as careful as I should have been. I was already riding the shot of adrenaline that I got from being there in the first place, but that adrenaline was quickly losing its charm as the sun began to set,

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_00] especially once I realized I had somehow gotten turned around. What started off as a relaxing walk on a cool autumn day was quickly turning into something much more akin to the intro of some horror game. I was on a trail that I didn't recognize. Deeper than I probably should have been. My steps hurried and uneven as I tried to make my way out. I guess it was already too late, though.

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_00] I guess it was already too late, but I thought I was going to make my way out of the park. Whatever. But when I got closer, I instinctively called out to ask if they were okay, but they didn't respond. I got a little closer and asked again if they were hurt.

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_00] Once again, they didn't respond, and the forest itself seemed to grow a bit quieter. Desperate for some kind of way out of there, I asked if they knew where they were or how to get back to the main trail. Still no response. They remained down on their knees, arms to the side, almost like they were in some kind of trance. At this point, I was about 50 feet away from this person.

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_00] I felt my heart begin to sink as I tried to close some more distance, just out of desperation and concern. The ground beneath my feet was incredibly soft and seemed to muffle each step I took until I closed 20 feet between us. I guess I stepped on some secret twig or something because the single loud snap that erupted from the ground was what finally got a response. Before I could even react properly, the man stood up and turned to face me.

[00:21:40] [SPEAKER_00] It was him. The same guy from the summer. Only this time, I wasn't hidden by a convenient shadowed tree line. I was face to face with some random psycho. My body completely frozen out of sheer dread. I felt like a deer in headlights. And soon after that, I felt just as confused as I was horrified when I realized that he was frozen too. He stood with a weird posture.

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_00] His boots planted on the ground, shoulder length apart, and his arms to the side. He was completely still. The only exception being his hand, which seemed to subtly shake. From this distance, I got a much better look at him. He was big. Not necessarily tall. He was maybe somewhere between 5'8 and 5'10. But he was stocky and broadly built, like a tree trunk.

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_00] He had messy, possibly curly blonde hair that framed the same exact mask from last time, which had various cuts to its hard plastic. Alongside dirt, grime, and whatever else was on it. Most startling was the fact that the mask didn't even hide his eyes. They were a deep shade of blue that seemed to look through me. His clothes were similar to the last time I saw him, but the flannel looked like it might have been a different color.

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00] This time it was a dark plaid green, but his jeans were still dark blue and his boots still mud-toned brown. They were dirty but looked as if they had only recently been covered in dirt. I stood there in shock as his eyes darted around and looked me up and down, probably sizing me up. The stillness between us didn't seem to last. His hand began to shake and twitch, and his body visibly tensed up. His eyes widened.

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_00] I was so terrified I could cry. But more than anything else, I was confused. And for a moment, it looked like he might have been just as confused as I was. For a single second, something shifted. I don't know what it was exactly, but once we locked eyes, he looked like he was even more terrified than I was. That ended, though, and I watched his gaze harden as he began to make some weird low rumbling sound,

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_00] adjacent to some kind of growl or something, and it sounded a lot closer to an animal than I would have ever been comfortable with. He tensed up even more, and I prepared for the worst. Only the worst never came. He turned and sprinted off in the opposite direction down the trail, and I waited until the heavy thudding faded in the distance before turning tail and running myself, basically crying the entire time.

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_00] Thankfully, I found my way back to the main trail, and eventually back to the main road. Just like the last time, as soon as I got home, I locked every door and window, and was barely able to get any sleep. The only difference this time was that my lack of sleep wasn't purely motivated by fear. Fear was most definitely involved, but so was utter confusion and a growing curiosity about whatever this was. For the next couple of months, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_00] It was horrifying in a way that felt so primal and real, yet at the same time so different than how that sort of encounter should have gone. It seemed too ridiculous and cliche, and yet every time I thought about it, or about him, something inside of me wanted to know more. I saw him again in March of 2025 via a drone that I had recently bought off of Amazon. Instead of going out in the middle of the night, I hunkered down in the garage

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_00] and decided to fly the thing around to see if I could spot anything interesting, or at least some pretty nighttime scenery. I paid some decent money for what seemed like a ridiculous flying range, so I sent the drone a little ways down the road. As I neared the end of it, who else did I see except the same masked man from last time? He was literally lying down in the middle of the road this time, in the dead of winter.

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_00] Surprisingly, he was dressed somewhat appropriately for the weather, wearing an open plaid coat with some kind of hoodie underneath it. He even had the hood up, obscuring everything above the shoulders aside from that same mask that he's been wearing this whole time. He was just lying there, I flew a little closer and got a better look, honestly checking whether or not he was dead or something, but my suspicion was immediately crushed once he noticed the drone.

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_00] He sat up from the snow-covered road and stood up fully, turning to face me while I was still up in the air. He kind of cocked his head to the side, staring up at the camera as I drew in closer. I was feeling a little more confident considering I was within the safety of my own home, so I flew closer, and closer, even as he began to move away from the road and briefly into the brush. At this point, I was maybe 25 to 30 feet from the ground

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_00] when suddenly, he popped back out of the woods holding a stick of some kind. He pulled his arm back, and before I realized what he was doing, he threw the stick up at the drone, hit it, and made it come crashing down on the road. A few seconds later, I watched the video shake a whole bunch before completely going black as the feed cut out. I didn't dare try to retrieve it until the next morning, this time actually driving down

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_00] to where he knocked the drone out of the sky. I parked on the side of the road, hopped out, and quickly found the wreckage of the drone that I had only gotten to fly once. It was totaled beyond repair, so I guess whoever did this really did not like being seen. Nearby, I found the imprint the man had left by lying down in the middle of the road. Though it had been faded at this point from the occasional car driving over it, it was pressed down in a way that looked intentional,

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_00] like he was trying to send some kind of message. For reasons I still don't know how to put into words, I pressed my own hand against where his had been. Immediately, I was flooded with this weird sense of isolation. The entire world seemed to stop for a second as I felt where he had been, where he had purposefully placed his mark, possibly trying to show someone he was, in fact, here. I guess I felt sad.

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_00] I don't know why, but the fact that he had left something so deliberate didn't feel very malicious at all. It was a handprint, not a message or scribble or a doodle, just a single spot where this masked man had intentionally pressed his hand into the snow long enough for the indent to remain until this moment. It very well could have been some kind of warning considering it was right next to the corpse of half my paycheck, but it could have been a lot of things.

[00:28:53] [SPEAKER_00] I didn't see him again for the rest of last year. There were a few times I thought I might have caught a glimpse of him, but it always ended up just being another person taking a walk down the road. There were even times I went out at night thinking I heard the same distinct rustling or thudding, but the only sign I ever had that he was still around was a torn piece of plaid hanging off a branch. The feeling of unease never left me, but it was less about

[00:29:22] [SPEAKER_00] my personal safety and more about simply not knowing what was going on with this guy. It wasn't until July that I saw him again, which is actually what led me to write all of this down in the first place. Considering how long it had been since I had seen him or anything else even remotely strange, I felt secure enough to return to my nighttime walks. I didn't do this very often and still don't, but at this point I've stopped being

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_00] outright terrified of him and more so just immensely cautious. I was making my loop around as per usual with one major difference. I never wear my earbuds at night anymore. I was maybe a few houses away from my own and about to complete the loop in its entirety when I suddenly realized that up ahead I was actually catching up to somebody. Since it happened to be a full moon that night, I could see

[00:30:21] [SPEAKER_00] the unsettlingly familiar silhouette walking about 100 feet or so ahead of me. I almost stopped walking entirely, but then I thought that if my footsteps suddenly stopped it might draw his attention, so instead I kept my own pace behind him, cautious but curious. He had such a weird slow stride. It seemed uneven, yet also self-assured. Occasionally, he would hunch his back slightly

[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_00] before straightening it, walking with the occasional limp of either leg. The longer I followed him, the more he looked confused and dazed, like he was on high alert, but also in some sort of trance. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he stopped moving entirely and just stood in the middle of the road, making me quickly duck off to the side and crouch down. Ironically, it felt like I was the one stalking him, which, considering our

[00:31:20] [SPEAKER_00] respective appearances, felt like it should have been the other way around. He stood there for a solid minute before he started to shake. Out of nowhere, I heard him coughing, which led to an absolute fit of it. Each cough sounded more strained and painful than the last as he fell to his hands and knees. I kept wondering if maybe I should try to help him. But what if he ran away again? Worse, what if he really did attack me?

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_00] But right when I could have sworn that he was about to puke, the coughing fit ended as quickly as it began. He remained on the ground for a second before standing back up and loudly cracking his neck. Then, he began to look around. I crouched down further hoping to God that he didn't see me as he turned his body completely. Once again, he was in some sort of flannel, this one looking a little more blue and of course wearing the

[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_00] same mask. He turned back and for whatever reason, took a turn to the right going down some new back road. I thought about going home since I was already maybe three houses away from where I lived, but I just didn't feel safe going back inside with him so close. Plus, there was a part of me that wanted to find out just what the fuck he was doing out there all this time. I felt so stupid, but for whatever reason,

[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_00] my curiosity overrode any rational thought that I had. If curiosity was killing any cat that night, it was probably going to be me. The road turned out to be an unfinished driveway that led into some sort of new construction site, which I had somehow missed. Up ahead, I saw what appeared to be the foundation of a house that was being built, so like any good horror story protagonist, I proceeded up that way. I made it to

[00:33:20] [SPEAKER_00] the foundation easy enough, despite the terrain being a work in progress, and I started looking around for anything of note, if not for the masked man himself. I didn't find anything, but the foundation did have a single concrete wall that had been built, so I went up to it and slowly peeked my head around it. To this day, I'm so thankful I peeked first and didn't just run out. There was a hill a little ways off, with a decent amount of trees that had been cut down

[00:33:49] [SPEAKER_00] for the construction. Take your best guess who was up there. The moon was bright enough to illuminate the guy, and it gave me a chance to get a better look at him. He was sitting down against a tree, and his head was moving as he looked around for a second. Then he just tilted his head back and looked towards the sky the same way he had the first time I ever saw him. I was obviously incredibly nervous, to the point where I was

[00:34:18] [SPEAKER_00] sweating, but I wasn't necessarily scared. If anything, I was becoming more and more absorbed in watching him, studying him, and have since found myself almost enamored by his mere existence. Despite looking like such a cliche Jason Voorhees knockoff or something like that, I had the feeling that he was really just lost. In a way, he looked almost lonely, and that was only further intensified by the way his

[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_00] hand reached up towards the sky, almost like he was genuinely trying to grab at something before it fell back down to his side. I watched him for another 10 to 15 minutes before ultimately deciding to just go back home. He didn't move or do anything that entire time. It was almost like he just fell asleep or something. I guess I just didn't want to disturb him, let alone be so close by if he woke up or had another coughing fit.

[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_00] Slowly, I moved away from the wall and made it a point to be as quiet as possible, walking back up the driveway and onto the road. Once there, I made my way back home, and did the same thing I always do whenever I see him around, only this time, I stayed by the window in case I could see him walking by or something. I saw somebody walking by about an hour later, but even though I didn't get a great look at them, I don't think it was him.

[00:35:48] [SPEAKER_00] As of writing this in August of 2026, I haven't seen him since. And as weird as it is, I can't help but almost look forward to the next time I do, even if it does still scare me a bit. I realize this entire thing sounds incredibly far-fetched and totally insane, but I'll use this last segment to clear up some possible questions I know people might rightfully have. This whole ordeal started off as something genuinely terrifying and has since turned into something much

[00:36:17] [SPEAKER_00] more fascinating or even somber. Logically, I know I should still be so much more scared of this than I actually am, but something about this masked guy seems almost innocent and depressing. Whenever I see him, he just looks so lost and alone, more like some kind of animal trying to find some sort of shelter than anything else. He walks around like he has no idea where or even who he is, like he's lost

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_00] in some kind of trance or possibly even some sort of psychosis. I have no idea who he is or what he's been doing out here. Part of me thinks maybe he's just some weird guy playing out of fantasy, but it feels so much deeper than that. I don't know for sure that he lives in the woods, but he has to live somewhere in that area for me to have run into him more than once. I can't help but wonder if this masked man is really someone going through some sort of mental

[00:37:16] [SPEAKER_00] health crisis. I don't know. I can't help but want to figure out what else is going on here, who this guy even is, and if he even knows that this is happening. I'm a 25-year-old guy, and I'd say I'm pretty well known in the public eye.

[00:37:46] [SPEAKER_00] I'm popular on multiple platforms, and while I'd by no means describe myself as a celebrity, I am recognized by people my age fairly often. I met this girl at some bar in the city. I was there with a few friends that I've known for years, and as per usual, I asked them not to take pictures that showed our location or tagged the bars where we were at because I didn't like it when our favorite spots blew up. This is why what happens later

[00:38:16] [SPEAKER_00] confuses me so much. Anyway, we were all hanging out and drinking when a girl came up to me and then began making some casual conversation. She asked me my name and I asked for hers, and by the end of the night, we had been chatting for nearly two hours. She was easy to talk to and seemed really down to earth, which I liked a lot because I feel like it's hard to find that in someone.

[00:38:46] [SPEAKER_00] I don't remember every detail about that night, but we exchanged information and began to see each other fairly often. eventually I asked her to go on a date, which she accepted. Now, this is what I don't understand. She was completely lovely and normal. Nothing felt off or like she was hiding something. She would willingly give me her phone to look stuff up or use her camera, that kind of thing, and when I had

[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_00] spoken to her about my job being a content creator, she seemed surprised but also uninterested. Not asking to be on camera or tagged in anything. Well, things were going well for about three months. My phone had died while I was at her place and she didn't have the type-C charger that it took. I was expecting a package and wanted to check my email to see if it had arrived so that I could ask my roommate to bring it inside, so I used her phone.

[00:39:45] [SPEAKER_00] When I opened it, a notification popped up from Instagram saying that someone had liked her post. Cool, what I whatever. That is, until I saw the little bracket that says your username. It was just some goofy name, however, it included my name, and when I clicked on it, it took me to her Instagram. Her page was filled with pictures of me from my videos and streams, but what freaked me out the most was that the

[00:40:14] [SPEAKER_00] account was years old. She had been running a full-on fan account of me for years. She had been a fan since before we met. She had been posting pictures and edits of me as recently as two days ago. I instantly felt sick. She was showering at the time, so I looked through the account a bit more and opened the message section. Most were normal fan conversations that really didn't freak me out too

[00:40:44] [SPEAKER_00] badly, but one in particular did. In the message, she was claiming to be dating me and had sent images of me to this random other fan account as proof. She had sent them candid pictures of us together and pictures of me that I didn't know she had taken. I didn't confront her right away. Instead, I waited until I was alone, took a screenshot of the Instagram account, and sent it to her. She tried to act confused at first,

[00:41:14] [SPEAKER_00] but after I pressed her, she eventually confessed. I blocked her and changed all of my passwords and locks, told my roommate to remember to lock the doors, and not to speak to her if she came by, but I haven't heard from her since. I don't even want to check the fan accounts activity. I truly felt sick to my stomach thinking about the whole situation.

[00:41:47] [SPEAKER_00] This happened about six months ago. and I've never stopped wondering what was actually going on. For the purposes of the story, I'll say my name is Faith. I was taking care of my parents' dog while they went on a trip, and about an hour after they left, my boyfriend came over. That meant it was just me and my boyfriend in the house when a car parked on the street outside and a man knocked on the door. I don't usually open the door for

[00:42:16] [SPEAKER_00] strangers, especially not when my boyfriend and I, are the only ones in the house. So, I just left it. But he kept knocking and ringing the bell. I could tell he was saying, hello, hello, or something like that, but my dogs were barking so loudly I couldn't really make it out. They were really freaked out, jumping at the door. So, we finally went over to the entryway to grab them and pull them away. That was obviously a mistake because there's a window

[00:42:46] [SPEAKER_00] window by my front door. I was trying to duck around it, but the man outside obviously saw me, and now he knew that someone was home. He just kept knocking. That's when he said my name. I obviously freaked out. He was saying, is that Faith? Are you Faith? Is Faith home? By this time of the day, it was dark, and I was getting scared of the name drop and the fact that he

[00:43:16] [SPEAKER_00] wasn't leaving. So, we took the dogs upstairs, where there's a window overlooking the front door area. I had my boyfriend open the window and talk to the man because my true crime rotted brain was thinking that this guy should see that there's another man here and that I'm not home alone. But when my boyfriend asked what the man wanted, he just kept asking for me by my name. He started saying that he needed to talk to me or see me. Then he said he

[00:43:45] [SPEAKER_00] had something of mine. He was like, I need to see her so that I can give something to her. My boyfriend asked what it was, but the man was just kind of saying stuff about how he needed to see me. But he wasn't saying that he actually had anything specific. Plus, he didn't have anything in his hands. And if he had some mail of mine or something, it would be bizarre to seemingly need to see me for that. My boyfriend finally asked if the man could leave whatever

[00:44:14] [SPEAKER_00] it was that he wanted to give me at the door, and told him that he needed to leave. But the guy at the door was pushing back on that, asking how my boyfriend knew that it would get to me if the man didn't actually see me take it. By that point, I was getting a little sick of the back and forth with this dude. Finally, my boyfriend said we were calling the cops, and the guy seemed pissed off and left. My parents' house has a doorbell camera, so I have a few pictures of the guy, although it

[00:44:44] [SPEAKER_00] was dark, so they're not that great. Nothing sticks out about the pictures, it's just some guy I didn't recognize. My parents didn't recognize him either, and at least in the camera footage, his hands are either in his pockets or empty, so how could he have known my name? I checked, and all of my IDs, passports, etc. were all with me. People have suggested that he had a summons, but I don't think he did, at least not a

[00:45:14] [SPEAKER_00] real legal one. If it had been a summons, I would have been served at another time at my home or work, right? It's not like I'm ever home or difficult to find, and I assume I wouldn't have gone half a year without hearing of any legal proceedings or summons if that were the case. So how did he know my name?

[00:45:54] [SPEAKER_00] This happened a long time ago, back in 2006, and I couldn't have been older than four at the time, yet I vividly remember the fear I felt during this encounter. It was an early summer morning, and even though the sun was up, very few people were out. In fact, the streets were practically dead that morning. My mom decided to take my sister and me to throw away some garbage at the garbage station. Since my sister was

[00:46:24] [SPEAKER_00] only a year old, she was seated in a stroller. I should also add that the garbage station is kind of secluded from the nearby houses. It borders one of those deep, dark forests of eastern Sweden. Since I was only four years old when this happened, the memories of the incident have faded a lot. However, my mom remembers all of it. She says that upon entering the garbage

[00:46:53] [SPEAKER_00] station, she immediately got this eerie feeling of being watched. I remember that feeling, too. I felt creeped out, even though I didn't know why I was scared. I guess I could sense my mom's fear. Walking along that secluded garbage station, my mom suddenly stopped and told me this. Honey, hold onto the stroller as hard as you can and don't let go no matter what. That's my most vivid

[00:47:22] [SPEAKER_00] memory I have of this, and I don't think I'll ever forget those words. At least, I'll never forget how they made me feel. It was as if my blood turned to ice. I froze and my mom sounded stern, but even a toddler can sense when someone's scared, and my mom was definitely afraid of something. The rest is just a blur. I don't remember much apart from what I just described, so I'll

[00:47:52] [SPEAKER_00] let the rest of the story be told from the perspective of my mother, at least, recalled to the best of my abilities. According to my mom, a truck was parked not that far from where we were standing with a man seated in the front. Nothing unusual. A lot of truck drivers stopped to rest by the side of the road, but this man was staring. He wouldn't stop staring. He stared right at my mom examining her body with a

[00:48:21] [SPEAKER_00] determined gaze of a predator. Gluing the three of us in his sight, she said he truly seemed pleased by the fear that he had instilled in our faces. His eyes were something else, almost as if they didn't belong to a human, but rather to a predator. My mom said that she felt like prey, stuck in the claws of a lion, and she couldn't move. That's when he smiled at her.

[00:48:51] [SPEAKER_00] She said that she remembered that dead smile, and the cold, calculating eyes, the way that he licked his lips. I believe this was the point during this strange encounter, when my mom told me to hold on to the stroller, to hold on tightly and not let go. My mom was a small woman, about five feet tall, and one hundred pounds, and she could have easily been overpowered by the

[00:49:20] [SPEAKER_00] overweight man in the truck. My mom later admitted that she was afraid that he would jump out of the truck and knock her out, possibly assaulting her. We bolted out of there. We didn't throw away much garbage that morning. We just turned around and walked home, as fast as my mom could do with a stroller and a four-year-old toddler by her side. We had never talked about what happened that day up until very recently.

[00:49:49] [SPEAKER_00] The incident has always lingered somewhere in the back of my mind, as that weird thing that happened when I was a child, and every time I walk past that garbage station, I get a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. As previously mentioned, this happened around 2006. Let's fast forward two years later, when the face of a ten-year-old girl named Ingla was painted across the front page of every newspaper in sight.

[00:50:19] [SPEAKER_00] She had been abducted, assaulted, and murdered. And the perpetrator was an overweight truck driver named Anders Eklund, who is now known as one of Sweden's most infamous killers. He was charged with the murder of Ingla, alongside the sexual assault and murder of another woman. Eklund. He also is suspected of abducting another little girl, who's still missing. My mom says that when she saw Eklund's picture in the

[00:50:47] [SPEAKER_00] paper, especially when she saw the cold, familiar eyes, she knew he was the creepy man from the garbage station all those years ago. Thinking about how my mom, my sister and me, or all of us could have become his victims that day still sends chills up my spine. Anders, even though you're behind bars, let's not ever meet again.

[00:51:26] [SPEAKER_00] This happened back during quarantine. I spent a lot more time at home and in the areas around my house than normal. There was a park very close to my house, so one day, I decided to go for a little jog. I ran from my house to the park, but since I don't typically do a lot of cardio, I decided to take a little break. I noticed that a guy, was looking my way, but I didn't really think anything of it, until I started jogging

[00:51:55] [SPEAKER_00] again, and he began walking at the same time. Since I was jogging, though, I eventually lost him, and I thought that it was over. Several hours later, I was in bed. Now, my room is on the second floor of the house, and the window in my room has a little roof area outside, and it looks down onto my street. Through the window, I noticed car lights going back and forth up and down the road. This may seem

[00:52:25] [SPEAKER_00] normal, but I live in a very quiet neighborhood, so I wanted to see what was going on. I got out of bed and went over to the window, and just as I had thought, a car was traveling back and forth on my street. Then, the car stopped right in front of my house, and the same guy came out of the passenger seat, which meant that there was at least one other person with him. Up until that point, I had only been half

[00:52:54] [SPEAKER_00] awake, but what woke me up for real was the sight of the same guy looking up at my window seeing me and smiling. I immediately closed the blinds. Then, I climbed back into bed, phone in hand. I must have fallen asleep because I suddenly got woken up by a light tapping on my window. Now, my blinds are see-through. Through the blinds, I could make out the silhouette of a man.

[00:53:24] [SPEAKER_00] He was crouched outside my window, tapping on it. The first thing that came to mind was don't move. So, I tried to pretend that I was still asleep, not knowing if he could see in my room or not. But then, I remembered that my room is on the second floor. How the hell did he climb onto the roof area outside my window? I have absolutely no idea, but I know that getting back down is not easy. I slowly

[00:53:53] [SPEAKER_00] pulled the covers over my head and called the police, whispering to 911 that the guy was still tapping at the window. The operator told me to slowly get out of reach of the window in case he breaks it, and that they would be there in five minutes. I crawled out of bed and into the bathroom where I could see the street behind my house, and I waited. After a couple of minutes, I heard the tapping stop, then silence,

[00:54:23] [SPEAKER_00] and then a big thump. More silence, then knocking at my door downstairs. I was still on the phone with the operator when I heard someone call out that it was the police and that the guy was gone. I told the operator that the police had arrived, but she told me to wait. There was silence. She then said that the police hadn't arrived yet, and not to open the door under any circumstances.

[00:54:53] [SPEAKER_00] I didn't dare move. Finally, though, she said that the police were there, and that I could go and open the door. Out of paranoia, I went to my bedroom window and checked outside. There were, in fact, three police cars, and about five or six officers outside my house. One of them knocked and I went downstairs. I opened the door, thanked the operator, and hung up. I told the officers the whole thing, and they told me

[00:55:23] [SPEAKER_00] that the guy was already gone when they arrived. In the next few days, I saw officers on my street, but never got any updates. They hadn't found the guy or his car. The only things they did find were a small knife and a rope.

[00:55:54] [SPEAKER_00] If you want to get bonus content and you're tired of ads, head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to sign up and support the show today. You'll get access to ad-free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate, plus bonus extensions with stories you won't hear anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. If you're a patron already, stick around after the music for your extension. And if you have a story to share, make sure you send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com to hear it on the show.

[00:56:23] [SPEAKER_00] Be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts, Odd Trails and the Old Time Radio Cast at crypticcountypodcasts.com and follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv slash crypticcounty. This week you have heard I Don't Even Think He Lives Here by Andre Z444. I Feel Like My Neighbor is Watching Me by Oddie There's a Man in the Woods by Responsible Arm 4711 She Pretended Not to Know Me by Goopy Gooper 329 Stranger

[00:56:53] [SPEAKER_00] at My Door Knew My Name by Frosty Revolution 3505 The Time I Crossed Paths with a Convicted Serial Killer by Snoo And finally The Tapping At My Window by Hermione Jean Granger All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors Let's Not Mean a True Horror Podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online We'll see you all next week Stay safe